inspirations & ideas from the west coast

A Year of New – #20: Feed a Giraffe

If giraffes aren’t the most majestic animals in the world, I don’t know what are. This past week, while vacationing in Arizona, I was able to feed a giraffe at the Phoenix Zoo and got a fantastic look up close and personal at these lovely creatures.

It was just our luck that my family and I got to the giraffe feeding platform just before they closed the feeding time down for the day. A lovely volunteer (they have about 500 there at the Zoo!) led us up to where the giraffes were hanging out and explained just how to give them their food. The volunteer gave my daughter a piece of Belgian endive to feed the giraffe, and we adults got small pellets to hand over. The giraffe seemed very curious about us; it was very gentle in reaching its long tongue out for the food and taking it. The tongue gently “kissed” my fingers as it found its way to the pellet. Chelsea was afraid to hand over the endive when it was her turn, so I got to feed the giraffe about four times. Amazing.

The Phoenix Zoo was a lovely spot which houses a plethora of fantastic animals, many of which are commonly also found in the wild in the Arizona desert. I totally recommend a visit if you’re ever in the area.